help !

[klueless]

i have a 90 galon tank

i started with 3 damsels and a stary - eyed hermit crab and a sea urchant
now i have removed all the damsels due to aggressive- ness towrds the blue tang --

what is left is :
hermit crab
sea urchant
percula clown
xanthius angel
diamond goby
many snails -- 6 ( i think )


my issue is that this morning my blue tang died overnight and i had to remove him from the live rock . ( expencive fish to loose and he was only a week old )

now my hermit crab is eating ( picking all the spines off of my poor lil sea urchant ) i have removed him and put him into a container untill i can figure out what to do with him .. any suggesions ? i feel like my tank has gone into destructo mode since i put in the blue tang ! please help

 

[Cichlid-Man]

I wish i could help more but i am not very knowledable on fish and fish stocking.

Sure the tang was dead? Those blue tangs will wedge themselves weird places and lay on their sides....they appear dead.

 

[klueless]

i hope it was dead ! we flushed it !!!!!
well it didnt move at all when i took it out of the water and inspected it. ...lol...

 

[TRe]

have u test your params? how long has the tank been running? how often are u doing water changes? what equipment? when the crabs eat something it usually means what they are eating is dead or dying

 

[klueless]

what is a params ?
i have a 90 galon tank ..
ehime fliter
cora - life skimmer
10 lbs of live rock ( 20 lbs curing )
we do a ten percent water change every week
but the last time i brought my water in to have checked the guy said he hadnt seen a tank this clean in a long time !

 

[klueless]

oh the tank is about 3 months old

 

[skratikans]

I would get rid of the ehime filter- just a nitrate factory in the long run
I would up the pounds of rock to 90+, the more the better, in general you should have 1 lbs per gallon of rock...that serves as filteration, also you should have good water movement, powerheads can serve this purpose

 

[Joe Fish]

if you sea urchant is loosing spines than that is a sign of water quality issues.

 

[klueless]

he isnt losing spines the crab is ripping them off ! i just did a nitrate and amonia test and they are both zreo ppm

 

[klueless]

i have two power heads already ! but thanks for the advice on the fliter !

 

[Joe Fish]

I would get rid of the hermits!

 

[kay-bee19]

The urchin is probably dying (not sure if its condition is related to the tang's demise). Where is the sea urchin usually found (does it roam a lot, including on the rocks and glass or does it tend to stay in one place or at the bottom of the tank where the hermits can get to it?

What's your salinity and pH? What type of water do you use (tap, RO/DI, store bought, sea water etc?).

Can you post a pic of your tank?

I'm kind of curious as to why your nitrates are 0ppm with so little live rock in the tank). How deep is your sand bed?

 

[klueless]

i did some research on my own and it is quite common for a crab to attack a sea urchin -- the crab is actually a predator to sea urchins .
the sea urchins spines will grow back withn 4 days to two weeks hopefully !
this is a defence mechanisum he has
,
thank godness he is only bald on one side -- the poor lil guy !
i put him back into my tank -- up high on the glass where the crab i will keep you posted on how he is doing !

i will keep you posted on how he is doing